ESP8266 - Unstable upload of sketches from Arduino IDE

Development Tools IDE 1.x
1

I've been struggling with this issue for a while now, so I think it is time to ask for help.

The upload of the sketch is very unstable for me. I use FTDI adapter and even bought a new one to make sure it is not the reason. I also tried to use different settings in the Arduino IDE suspecting that the problem lives in the settings, but nothing changed. See attached file (Arduino.settings2.jpg) for the latest settings I used - I have ESP8266 12E chips.

See also the 3 usual outcome of an upload:
1, see the file attached: Fail1.txt - the first few lines are the output of the upload in the IDE. As you can see: no errors there. But after a restart of the ESP it goes into an infinite loop of errors with the exception you can see the remaining part of that file.
2, see the file attached: Fail2.txt - the upload fails at the very end of the upload.
3, see the file attached: Success.txt - this one was actually successful, the sketch does what it should do, but you can see a warning at the beginning of the upload. Maybe I get this result 1 out of 10 uploads.

These three runs are literally three tries after each other in this order.

Does anyone have any clue what's going on and how can I fix it?

Arduino.settings2.jpg

Fail1.txt (5.28 KB)

Fail2.txt (705 Bytes)

Success.txt (584 Bytes)

2

Just a quick addition to this problem - still unsolved though.

So, I found a few minimum wiring of ESP8266 where the RST and GPIO16 pins have been connected. I checked it and experienced the same symptoms. The other thing I noticed that most of the tutorial pages suggest to use 10k pull down/up resistors while I'm using 2k ones. But based on this article it shouldn't be a problem.

And one other piece of information, maybe it helps. I use this schematic for the tests.

3

Are you using the FTDI adapter's 3.3V for your ESP-12 ?

4

The circuit is what you should have

plus 10K resistor from GPIO15 to ground (the ESP-01 pictured does not have GPIO15 that comes out to a pin on the board)

5

FTDI is only for 50mA at 3.3V. That might be an issue.

6

By the way, that circuit is from the ESP8266 Arduino Core website.

7

I'm using separate power source to power up the ESP. So that's not the problem, for sure.

But I'm connecting only the RX+TX+GND pins - nothing else - could it be the problem? I'm using resistors to constantly pull up GPIO0 and RST though.

8

ivivan:
I'm using separate power source to power up the ESP. So that's not the problem, for sure.

But I'm connecting only the RX+TX+GND pins - nothing else - could it be the problem? I'm using resistors to constantly pull up GPIO0 and RST though.

You need the circuit that I linked above.
Otherwise, you won't be able to upload new firmware to the ESP8266.

9

You need the circuit that I linked above.
Otherwise, you won't be able to upload new firmware to the ESP8266.

I tried your way and it didn't work at all. I couldn't put the ESP into "flash" mode this way. Is there a trick? I normally pull up the IO0 for normal boot and pull it down for flash, but if I connected the IO0 to the FTDI's DTR port it never went to flash mode however I pulled it.

10

ivivan:
I tried your way and it didn't work at all. I couldn't put the ESP into "flash" mode this way. Is there a trick? I normally pull up the IO0 for normal boot and pull it down for flash, but if I connected the IO0 to the FTDI's DTR port it never went to flash mode however I pulled it.

I built my own circuit for flashing the ESP-01 based on the one at https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/projects/flashing-the-ESP-01-firmware-to-SDK-v2.0.0-is-easier-now/

It should work for you.

11

It should work for you.

It does, just not all the time. I checked that page and my circuit looks very similar, so I don't think the circuit itself the problem, but then I have no idea what it is :confused: